
Weather whiplash: A series of storms could ease California drought, but also unleash flood hazards
CNN
Human-caused climate change has increased the potential for this weather whiplash, where dramatic shifts in periods of drought and high precipitation are set to occur more often.
The storms are called "atmospheric rivers," which are narrow bands of concentrated moisture in the atmosphere emerging from the warm waters of the Pacific Ocean, cruising more than two miles above the sea. An average atmospheric river transports more than 20 times the water the Mississippi River does, as vapor.
Throughout the weekend and into next week, parts of the West Coast will go from extreme drought to facing a series of bomb cyclones and an associated atmospheric river. The weather whiplash may unleash rains, flash floods, debris flows, and potential hurricane-force winds, particularly in the Pacific Northwest and Northern California.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has told multiple associates and allies that there’s no chance he will bow to President Donald Trump’s calls for him to resign, vowing to withstand several more months of the president’s unprecedented, multi-pronged assault over Powell’s refusal to lower interest rates.

Former President Joe Biden’s chief of staff, Ron Klain, told staffers on the House Oversight Committee that former National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton raised concerns to him in 2023 and 2024 about Biden’s political chances, two sources familiar with the matter said.